Johan Cruyff has never feared being controversial – some say he has thrived on it – but when the Dutch Master writes off his country’s chances at the World Cup this summer, he is not trying to antagonise his compatriots.
The 23 men entrusted with continuing De Oranje’s proud reputation at the World Cup is a largely inexperienced group, with an average age of 26.5 – the eighth youngest in the tournament – and with the 23 players averaging just 28.7 caps between them.
Future Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is also expected to field a five-man defence which, when you remove Aston Villa’s Ron Vlaar from the equation, average just 14 caps each.
It is a combination of this lack of experience and an injury to Roma midfielder Kevin Strootman – a key component in van Gaal’s starting XI – which leads Cruyff to doubt whether the team that finished as runners-up in South Africa four years ago has a chance.
When asked about the Netherland’s prospects of winning the tournament for the first time, after three runners-up finishes, Cruyff is characteristically uncompromising.
“I think they are less than normal. They have a good team but are very young,” said the man who went so close to winning the competition in 1974. “We will see if they are nervous or not. They have quality but lack experience.”
One cannot say the same for Cruyff, arguably one of the most influential footballers in the game’s history. Under the inspirational coach Rinus Michels, Cruyff was the kingpin for both Ajax and the Dutch national side as they effectively invented Total Football in the 1970s, a system that eschewed the conventional barriers between defence, midfield and attack in order to create a style of play that was fluid, breathtaking and successful.
At its heart was Cruyff, readily acknowledged as one of the top individuals of all time, and a man who was to take the same philosophy to Barcelona first as a player and then as a coach.
Cruyff did more than any other individual to establish the way Barcelona play today, and by extension the style that has enabled Spain to win the past two European Championships and the World Cup in 2010.
Naturally for a man with such affinity to the Iberian peninsula, Cruyff believes Spain will be among the hot favourites again, although he thinks home advantage may favour Brazil in the final reckoning.
He adds: “Spain has all the experience in the most important competitions. For me they are a great team. But the best candidate is Brazil, playing at home, and we saw what happened in the Confederations Cup.”
Indeed Brazil’s convincing 3-0 win over Spain last summer showed that Scolari’s team fear no-one, although Cruyff also mentions two other football powerhouses.
“Argentina are strong, and Germany too.”
He does not rate England’s chances of progressing far, adding: “No, I don’t think England can win it. It is like the Dutch, I don’t think they can win. But for this young Dutch side, this will be a very good preparation for the next one, which is in four years. They have got qualities and can be a surprise.”
The Dutch were certainly a surprise on the international stage when Cruyff and Co took them to the final in 1974 where they came up against hosts West Germany.
They got off to a dream start in the final when Cruyff danced through the German lines towards goal before being hacked down by Uli Hoeness.
English referee Jack Taylor awarded a penalty, but took no action against Hoeness, and although Johan Neeskens scored, the Germans equalised through a Paul Breitner penalty before Gerd Muller scored the winning goal for them.
It might have been so different if today’s rules had applied, which would have led to a red card for Hoeness and the Germans playing the remaining 88 minutes with 10 men.
Not that Cruyff looks back with too much regret. “Maybe, but it’s always afterwards(you think of it). There is a very important sentence that I learned from disabled people who play sport; they don’t think about what they don’t have but try to get better with what they do have. That is the same for me. We lost the game but we should just forget it and look at the beautiful things.”
And there was plenty to admire. The Netherlands played a style of football that took the world by storm, with positional rotation, defenders prepared to bomb forward in attack, and players such as Cruyff happy to drop back into his own defence before launching attacks. Total football indeed.
“The first thing I know (about 1974) is that we lost and the second thing I know is that we played the best football in the world, you could say. We introduced a style of football that, later on, everyone copied. So I think if we look back it was a fantastic experience.”
But it was a losing experience, and one that the Dutch were to repeat four years later, in Argentina, when again they lost to the hosts in the final despite being the neutrals’ favourites.
This time, though, they were without Cruyff, who decided not to go to the finals for reasons that lay hidden for 30 years. At the time Cruyff refusal to go to Argentina was thought to have been down to a row with the KNVB, the governing body of Dutch football, or team sponsors adidas – Cruyff always wore Puma boots and it was said he would not wear the iconic three-stripes of their rivals.
But Cruyff revealed many years later that his decision was prompted by a failed kidnap attempt when he and his young family lived in Barcelona, where he was playing.
“Someone put a rifle at my head and tied me and my wife up in front of the children,” he said in 2006. “Our children were going to school accompanied by the police, who slept in our house for three or four months. I was going to matches with a bodyguard.
“It was the moment to leave football and I couldn’t play in the World Cup after this.”
Although Holland lost in 1978, as they did in the 2010 final, Cruyff is still proud of the legacy his team of 1974 left.
He says: “You can see from the beginning of Barcelona to now, it is still there. And 1974? With the whole world watching us and trying to copy us, you can't have a bigger honour than that."
Following the Cruyff blueprint
Spain: Cruyff’s work with Barcelona has permeated through into the national team with the focus on possession at all costs. La Roja’s formation may not be quite as flexible as the Dutch but in David Silva, Santi Cazorla, Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta they have players who can operate in midfield and attack.
Netherlands: Louis van Gaal has established his own influence over this group of players but his five-man defence has echoes of Total Football with full-backs Daley Blind and Daryl Janmaat as important in midfield and attack as they are at the back.
Chile: Coincidentally, another side from Group B with the Chileans perhaps having the most flexible formation in the competition. A 3-4-3 with Gary Medel and Mauricio Isla defenders without the ball and midfielders with it, while Alexis Sanchez is not as rigid as he is with Barcelona, playing wide and centrally.
Belgium: Marc Wilmots has a rich and varied supply line of talent at his disposal, particularly in midfield. Marouane Fellaini and Moussa Dembele can play as a defensive midfielders or No10s and the more attacking Eden Hazard, Kevin Mirallas, Kevin De Bruyne and Adnan Januzaj as playmakers or wingers.
